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Lazers and Faith

prewitt81

Notoriously Glorious
prewitt81
Joined
Dec 26, 2004
Messages
2,226
Ugh

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050309/ap_on_re_us/religion_prize

"Many people don't realize that science basically involves assumptions and faith. But nothing is absolutely proved," Townes said. "Wonderful things in both science and religion come from our efforts based on observations, thoughtful assumptions, faith and logic."
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Where do I start:

1) I don't have to have faith in gravity. I fall down a lot.

2) I don't have to have faith in heat conduction to burn the crap out of my hand on a stove.

etc.

I don't care if a scientist is religious or not - that's none of my business. But a statement like this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of science.

Edited to remove double URL
 
Townes may be correct about the commonalities between scientific research and religion.

But at the end of scientific research you get this really cool laser beam....

At the end of religion, you just get more faith.
 
Yeah, I just read this news story, too, and came here to see if anyone had started a thread. I am currently having a debate with a friend via email regarding agnosticism, atheism, and science, and I feel confident that she will refer to this. I curious to see others' responses to it.

Before the 1960s, the Big Bang was just an idea that was hotly debated. Today, there is so much evidence supporting the theory that most cosmologists take it for granted.

"The fact that the universe had a beginning is a very striking thing," Townes said. "How do you explain that unique event" without God?
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Well, for that matter, how do you explain it with God? Saying God did it is not an explanation, any more than saying my friend Fred did it.

Really, Townes (from what little I've read about him) seems like a smart guy, and I don't really see statements by him that I find particularly objectionable. They all just seem like musings, impossible to disprove, and not used as the basis for any particularly strong weirdness on his part. But I'm sure the IDers will play it up.
 
Bluegill said:
But I'm sure the IDers will play it up.
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On September 22, 1792, at 3:02 pm, a maid sneezed while dusting and Thomas Jefferson, passing by, said "God bless you." This is indisputable proof, say the IDers, that the venerable Founding Fathers were devout Christians.
 
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